Sally Leadbitter, a “plain, red-haired, freckled girl,” is Mary Barton’s coworker at Miss Simmonds’s seamstress business. Sally is friendly but immodest, romance-obsessed, and occasionally malicious. Her main redeeming quality is her love and care for her invalid mother. She serves as a go-between in Mary’s flirtation with factory-owner Harry Carson. Aware—as Mary is not—that Harry wants to “ruin” Mary rather than marry her, Sally entertains herself by wondering whether Harry will “win” and ruin Mary, or Mary will “win” and ensnare Harry in marriage. Her friendship with Mary deteriorates when Mary breaks off her flirtation with Harry. After Harry’s murder, however, Sally becomes intensely curious about Mary as the quasi-“heroine” of a public trial—much to Mary’s chagrin.